Western has prospered under its cafeteria meals. Every lunch receives high praise, the lines are packed, and people are smiling. Nothing is more motivating to our lunch staff than that visual. The secret ingredient is their devotion to students and their goal to “feed the kids” and no one can debate that they are certainly achieving that.

Amanda McMurray is a part time cafeteria worker and mans one of the lunch lines. Students see her everyday as they put in their lunch code, but not many of them know the work she puts in to make Western’s food great. McMurray is the mastermind behind all the vegetarian options, “We make them all from scratch, most of it comes from the fridge not the freezer, and I go heavy on the seasonings,” she said. A vegetarian herself, McMurray has a drawer full of interesting recipes, ranging from poke bowls to lentil-infused shepherds pie.

However, it’s not just lunch food that students love. Breakfast at WAHS receives more than stellar reviews. “The muffins and the biscuits are the main sellers,” said system manager and lead chef Kevin Hall. He makes several hundred batches a week, along with Carol Ann Cardona. The key to their success is variety and flavor. Students can often expect many different unique muffins a week, ranging from cinnamon to blueberry, and biscuits stay consistent between egg and sausage, but are always tasty.

McMurray and Hall are recognizable smiling faces at the food line, but it’s not just them who make Western food great. Rebekah Hunt, affectionately known as Sous by her co-workers, is part of the backbone of the kitchen. She helps in all areas of the food making process. Richard McLernan, a man kids often see manning a line, works hard in the back too. Becky Ferguson and Carol Ann Cardona help set up the front line and put the veggies and fruits on the line, and Jesse Crowder does the dishes in the back. The kitchen is held together by all these hard workers, the food eaten each day is only possible because of the effort the cafeteria staff put into it. It’s this hard work, and genuine care for students that creates well seasoned, masterfully crafted, unique meals to “feed the kids.”